Q: Hi Brendon, tell us something about your life and yourself.
My name is Brendon Burton, I am a 23 year old visual artist based in Portland, Oregon.
Q: When and why did you start taking pictures?
I started taking photographs around the age of 15 on an old 35mm camera. I began shooting digital at the age of 17.
Q: Nature has an important role in your pictures, hasn’t it?
Nature plays a huge role in my work, setting is everything to me. I pride myself in being a skilled location scout above all else. I especially love liminal spaces and rural areas.
Q: How do you choose your subjects?
My subjects are almost always my friends who I travel with. They understand me creatively so it’s easy to work with them.
Q: In many of your shots it looks like the subjects lose their identity to become only weightless bodies. Do you agree?
I would agree, my subjects are usually just caught between posing and a candid state. Something in between natural and unnatural.
Q: What is the message you would like to convey with your shots, if there is one.
I hope my work speaks for itself for the most part, but I would love it to express a feeling of nostalgia and perhaps deja vu. Almost like a dream.
Q: On your website there is a section called Western Gothic, why does it have this name?
Western Gothic is a take on Southern Gothic, a subgenre of Gothic literature. I found that so many of the images I shoot are in dark and decaying settings found in the old wild west.
Q: In 2017 you travelled in Europe. Being in the old continent changed your approach or any themes of your photography?
Europe was absolutely amazing, I found it to be so etherial and charming. While there I spent a lot of time in Berlin and Slovakia, the deep history and dark forests made me feel at home in a strange way, similar to Oregon. I decided to shoot only film, it just felt right.
Q: Why do you still shoot film?
I still shoot film because it is how I started, and it’s the most tangible way to process a visual idea to me.
Q: Do you have any forthcoming projects?
I will be shooting a short film in February, hopefully that will be published sooner than later.
Q: Suggest us a film or an album.
One of my favorite movies is Floating Weeds by Ozu, and one of my favorite album Dreams by Gabor Szabo, a Hungarian guitar player.
All images © Brendon Burton
